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Cary, NC – Downtown Raleigh’s revitalization efforts are starting to pay off as new residential units, businesses and retailers add to the burgeoning restaurant and bar scene. How can Raleigh’s success help inform Cary’s own Downtown turnaround? Read more →

Cary, NC – Saturday May 11, 2013 marks the second year that NC Amtrak has chosen the Cary Depot as the location for their area National Train Day celebration. Approximately 1000 folks attended last year, and Cary is now the model for other such celebrations throughout the nation in Amtrak’s move to small town centers rather than big city celebrations. Read more →

Cary, NC – Downtown, across from Cary Arts Center, is a 13-acre assemblage of land called The Opportunity Site. That’s because it represents a significant opportunity for the community to put something useful in that space. Now, plans are moving forward to seize the opportunity and create a downtown park.

Cary, NC – There’s never a dull moment in Cary. January 3rd saw the first meeting of the year for the Heart of Cary Association at The Matthews House. Ben Shivar, Cary Town Manager, reviewed where the Town has been in 2012 and where it’s going in 2013. Read more →

Cary, NC – October in Cary is filled with activities from corn maze fun on area farms to a Town sponsored annual Haunted House and a new Downtown Harvest Festival. Make your ghoulish plans now with our Cary Guide to Halloween 2012. Read more →

Cary, NC – Where do culinary students from Le Touquet, France come to work and study their craft? If you answered “Cary and the Triangle,” you would be right. Yes, culinary students from France, right here in Cary! You can sample their work on April 26 at Page-Walker in Cary. Read more →

Cary, NC – It was another packed house at the Heart of Cary Association‘s (HoCA) first meeting in the new year. The guest speaker was Cary’s Town Manager Ben Shivar and the crowd was eager to hear what he had to say about plans for DownTown Cary in 2012. Read more →

Cary, NC- The spirit of giving is strong in Cary, and the Heart of Cary Association is harnessing that energy with a toy drive this month. They’ve dubbed their initiative, Share The Season. Read more →

Cary, NC – The Heart of Cary meeting on Thursday morning was literally standing room only for a presentation by Jon Kane, the developer of North Hills.

A Who’s Who and Some Fine Baked Goods

Close to 50 downtown business owners, residents and public officials packed the Cary Chamber for the 8 o’clock meeting. It was a who’s who of downtown leadership including Ed Gawf, Ralph and Daphne Ashworth, Scott Ashworth, Sheila and Carroll Ogle, Don and Lisa Frantz, Howard Johnson and Sandy Jordan of the Chamber, Captain Don Hamilton of the Police, property owners Bill Taylor and Curtis Westbrook and many other civic and business leaders.

Tasty baked goods including Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread were supplied by Great Harvest and sponsored by CaryCitizen.

Down to Business

After some HoCA business, Doc Thorne turned the floor over to Jon Kane.

In a nutshell, Mr. Kane started with a small property that held a single drug store and turned it into one of the signature developments in the Triangle – North Hills.

In less than a dozen years, Kane Realty Corporation has expanded the project to over 100 acres of mixed use retail, residential, entertainment and office.

Fill In The Blank

Mr. Kane talked about North Hills, but the audience didn’t have much trouble picturing the parallels to downtown Cary.

The developer began with a simple statement relating to his own project. He asked the audience to complete this sentence:

“If you’re going to Raleigh, you have to go to _________”

What fills in the blank? Kane Realty set out to make North Hills the answer to that question.

Ingredients of a Successful Development

As he clicked through his slides, Jon Kane ticked off a list of ingredients that make a successful redevelopment on a community scale:

Areas to just “hang out”

Office above retail (makes life efficient)

Emphasis on unique, quality design and architecture

Lots of things to do , and easy to do them

Importance of events – days, nights and weekends

Be strategic about how parking fits into the development

At North Hills, you can go to the supermarket, lease an office, hit the gym, get a latte, see a movie, hear a band. You can shop ’til you drop, catch a meal, stay at a hotel, get a spa treatment and, maybe soon, ride your own personal pod transportation from one end of the development to the other.

Optimism for Downtown Cary Redevelopment

Mr. Kane identified a key strength in Cary’s revitalized effort downtown as broadly based community buy-in, from individual business owners to elected officials and landowners.

Fill In The Blank

Jon Kane closed by challenging members of the Heart of Cary Association to fill in their own blank: